Fitting a harness and lead: what to measure before you order

Measure the chest, not the neck

A harness is sized on the girth: the distance around the widest part of the ribcage, just behind the front legs. Neck size tells you very little about fit, because the straps cross the chest and the belly rather than the throat.

Measure with the dog standing, pull the tape snug without compressing the coat, and write the number down before opening a size chart. Check that number against the chart instead of against the breed, because two dogs of the same breed can differ by a whole size.

Chest ring, back ring or both

Where the lead attaches changes how the harness behaves. A ring at the chest gives the handler a point of contact in front of the dog, and a ring on the back is the usual choice for a relaxed walk on a loose lead.

A harness with both rings is the flexible option, because the same harness covers a busy street and an open field. What it does not do is change how the dog walks on its own; the rings change where the handler holds.

• Chest ring: a point of contact in front of the dog.
• Back ring: comfortable for a long, ordinary walk.
• Both: one harness for two kinds of walk.

Straps, padding and the parts that wear

Run two fingers under every strap. Tight straps rub and loose straps let a dog step out of the harness, and the place that rubs first is behind the front legs, where the strap crosses the armpit.

Then look at the metal. A welded ring lasts, while a coated split ring loses its coating and starts catching the webbing, and a heavy clip wears a light ring. Padding that wipes dry matters more on a wet walk than padding thickness does.

• Welded metal rings rather than split rings.
• Padding that dries quickly after rain.
• A clip that matches the weight of the ring.